TRENTON — In its escalating feud with Newark, state officials Wednesday made their most forceful and emphatic comments to date indicating they were taking steps to take over the city’s finances.

“We may ask our Attorney General’s Office to ask a judge to place Newark under supervision,” Local Government Services Director Tom Neff said during a meeting of the Local Finance board. “We’re not just going to look the other way while they flout the law.”

The Local Finance Board and Local Government Services Division — part of the state Department of Community Affairs — have been battling with the state’s largest city almost since the day Luis Quintana took over as mayor, replacing Cory Booker, who was elected to the U.S. Senate last November.

Since then, Neff and the state have publicly chided the Quintana administration over a list of transgressions that has put the city at odds with state budget laws.

Aside from the new staffers, Neff has repeatedly criticized the city for failing to conduct an audit since 2012, failing to hold an accelerated tax sale, not completing an annual financial statement, and not introducing a budget within the state’s time frame.

“We don’t want Newark to stagger through 2014 the way they staggered through 2010 and 2011,” Neff said during Wednesday’s meeting in Trenotn, adding that the state hired an outside auditor to investigate the city’s finances.

City officials said it is nearly impossible to pass a budget before the state settles on its own revenues in July. In 2011 and 2012, the state cut the amount of emergency aid it planned to give Newark, throwing the city’s budgets into a tailspin.

“We are committed to submitting the City’s budget for introduction to the Council, and expect to do so in the next 14 days,” Neals said in statement Wednesday, adding that, while he welcomes collaboration with the state, “These (budget) efforts should continue without formal supervision.”

Neals also pointed to a $120 million reduction in the city’s deficit since 2006.
Still, Newark’s 2013, $640 million budget included about $40 million in one-time revenues that will not be returning in 2014, making for a $35 to $40 million deficit in 2014.

Newark has not said if it will require emergency state aid — something Neff said needs to be done quickly to prevent “the rest of the taxpayers in the state from having to subsidize (Newark’s) problems.”

Still, Neff struck a conciliatory tone.

“We’re not like other states, Michigan and elsewhere, where we let a municipality get to the point of filing for bankruptcy,” Neff said referring to Detroit’s declaration of bankruptcy last year. “We’re never going to allow it to happen to Newark.”

New Jersey municipalities are legally required to pass a balanced budget each year. The state offers significant aid in property tax relief, transitional aid and grants. “The state is always willing to assist municipalities,” Neff said, urging the city to ask for help. “We do more than just say ‘no.’ We work with them on the things they want to achieve.”